andIsThisWhyIStayed
by Unstoppable Cyborg
Summary: Toby fights a bounty hunter, and wonders if this is why he was supposed to stay behind. Contains spoilers for Season 2 of 3Below. Background Jlaire. Implied/Referenced Canon-Typical Violence.


**Hello, dear readers! I found ****a six second clip from Season 2****, and chose to write fanfic based on it.**

* * *

Toby ran with his phone pressed to his ear. It was the middle of the night, which meant that his relatively nocturnal friends should be awake and able to answer their phones right now.

Blinky and Claire weren't available. Of course they weren't. They were probably in Nevada right now.

Likewise, all Toby got was Jim's voicemail.

"Hi, Jimbo? How's the migration to New Jersey?" Toby asked, trying to keep the edge out of his voice. Maybe his best friend had been talking about gruesomes or goblins, or something other than the giant glowing seemingly-robotic monster that was chasing him, Steve, Eli, and the Tarron siblings. Oh yeah, and Aja and Krel now had four arms and were cyan and as tall as Jim was now.

"So, you know how you said that AAARRRGGHH! and I needed to protect Arcadia? Yeah, did you _know_, Jim? Did you _know_ what I'd have to protect it from? _And_ it's gonna kill Eli gotta go bye!"

* * *

Claire had used to like her coffee as being about 55% milk, but today she wanted it as black as her Shadow Staff, as black as the Shadow Realm…

She pinched the inside of her thumb, both to keep herself awake and to keep herself from slipping into a not-so-great mental state. She needed sleep for both of those, but coffee would have to do. Coffee with an espresso shot and whip and five different types of sugar and non-sugar sweeteners. She only had an hour before she had to head back to camp so they could once again start walking across the country.

Claire glanced at the phones that she was charging. Hers had died in the middle of a phone call with her mom, and as much as Claire didn't mind the escape from the subtle hints that her mom would much rather her do something else with her life she also knew that the lack of contact would make her parents worry. She had tried with Jim's and Blinky's, but they also had dead phones.

She unlocked her phone, and as she opened her texting app she noticed that there were several missed calls from Toby.

* * *

Toby's phone lit up, and he realized that Jim was trying to video chat. He bit his lip before swiping the talk option. He hadn't meant to be so passive-aggressive last night, he was just _frustrated_.

Jim and Claire looked concerned. Claire's head was also very close to Jim's head, which meant that either Jim was sitting and Claire was leaning on him, or she had gotten a height boost.

"Sorry we didn't get your calls, our phones died," Claire said.

"Are you okay? What about Eli?" Jim asked.

"Yeah, we handled it," Toby said. "And it's cool, I figured you guys had a good reason for not calling back."

Toby had known Jim nearly all their lives. He knew his best friend's shit-eating grin, and he knew even better when his best friend was _trying_ to be annoying and had been _succeeding_.

"Is it cr-" Jim started, and Claire shoved a hand in front of his mouth. With her other arm she gripped Jim's shoulders more tightly. She was certainly taking a risk, considering that Jim had sharp lower canines and her armor didn't exactly cover her hands.

It was a risk Toby would be willing to take if Jim was in the mood to make things _crispy_.

"How long has he been like this?" Toby asked.

"Long enough that he's paying me back," Claire said.

"Good, he should know better. That being said, I'm gonna need to talk to him? Or at least, I've got a _question_ that I think Jimbo would be the best person to answer."

"Be good," Claire said into Jim's ear as she removed her hand and then stretched her arms. Jim's grin was far more sheepish.

"You know how you said that AAARRRGGHH! and I needed to protect Arcadia? And that's one of the reasons why you wanted me to stay behind?"

Jim nodded very carefully, glancing behind himself to make sure his horns wouldn't accidentally hit Claire.

"Well, was one of those reasons the alien bounty hunter that I fought last night?"

Toby wasn't sure if he felt anger or relief at the fact that Jim didn't know that he'd be fighting in an interplanetary war by staying home. Maybe it was both.

Likewise, he wasn't sure if he felt more amusement or pity as he realized that Jim was giving Claire a piggy-back ride and she had to flail to grab a handhold as he accidentally started to drop her.


End file.
